Earlier today at the Nagoya Congress Center in Nagoya, Krush held Krush.22 ~ in Nagoya~, its first event in Nagoya, featuring a 55kg title fight and five Tokyo vs Nagoya fights featuring Yuta Kubo, Yuya Yamato, Masaaki Noiri and Keiji Ozaki, among others.

In the night’s main event, Krush 55kg champ Shota Takiya was given what turned out to be his toughest fight in some time against Takumi, but was able to win a unanimous decision on scores of 30-29(x3). Takiya (21-4-0, 13 KO) has now won 10 in a row and had won his last 5 by knockout heading into this fight. There’s no telling what’s next for Takiya, as Krush’s 55kg division isn’t that deep and unless they hold a 55kg tournament, they will have to go outside of the company to find legitimate opponents for Takiya. Takumi (12-3-0, 5 KO) did well in staying on his feet against the hard-hitting Takiya, but it wasn’t enough. His effort here should be noted as he was able to hang with a guy I felt was head and shoulders above the rest of the Krush 55kg division.

In the Krush vs Nagoya headlining fight, ISKA Light Welterweight champion Yuta Kubo moved up to 66kg and scored a 2nd round knockout of WBC Japan and NJKF Welterweight champion Yuya Yamato 51 seconds into the round. Kubo (34-4-1, 16 KO) pushes his win streak to 11 and has slowly been climbing his way up in weight, fighting at 64.5kg and 65kg in his last two fights and now at 66kg. While this was a good step up in weight against good competition, Yamato often fights between 63kg and 67kg, so he wasn’t the best test as far as bigger opponents go. Regardless, Kubo would be a welcome sight for Japan at 70kg as their division has looked pretty lackluster in the years since Masato’s retirement, with Yasuhiro Kido being the only big standout with the decline of Yoshihiro Sato and more notably Yuya Yamamoto. Yamato (13-7-0, 8 KO) had won two in a row coming into this fight, with a win over Kanongsuk in May and a KO of Pradesh Lookprabaht just a month ago. While his record may not look too great, he has fought a tough schedule since 2010, taking on Fabio Pinca twice, former NJKF Lightweight champ Kazuki twice, Seiji Takahashi, Soichiro Miyakoshi, Kanongsuk and now Kubo.

In the next Nagoya vs Tokyo fight, Nagoya’s Masaaki Noiri took an easy win over Tokyo’s Makihira Keita on scores of 30-27(x2) and 30-28. Noiri (13-3-0, 5 KO) picks up his first after his upset loss to Raz Sarkisjan back at the Hoost Cup in May which snapped a 6 fight win streak. As the reigning Youth Tournament champ, he awaits the winner of this year’s tournament for a fight that will likely take place early next year. Keita is now 1-1-1 on the year.

In the final three Nagoya vs Tokyo fights, Nagoya fighters went 2-1 with Taito upsetting Keiji Ozaki by majority decision, Yuya defeating Shota Hayashi and Masayuki Isabashi losing to Junpei Aotsu, giving Nagoya the overall victory with 3 wins (Noiri, Taito, Yuya) to Tokyo’s 2 (Kubo, Aotsu). The upset loss for Ozaki is huge as he’s been a borderline challenger despite not having any significant wins recently and Taito had lost his last 3 bouts heading into this fight. This loss should end Ozaki’s time as a legitimate title challenger.